Protesters ask Publix to support tomato harvesters

Nearly 200 residents, farm workers and members of the clergy protested outside the Broadway Promenade Publix on Sunday on behalf of tomato harvesters they say are underpaid.

Prohibited from leaving the sidewalk along the Tamiami Trail, they reiterated their objections to the store's recent trespass warning against a local minister and the grocery store chain's refusal to strike an agreement to get higher wages for tomato farm laborers.

"Publix doesn't want us at the table," Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, told the group before it marched from St. Martha's Catholic Church to the store. "They want us under the table."

Publix says it does not directly pay farm laborers and that the coalition's argument should be with the tomato farmers.

Jordan Buckley, spokesman for Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, said Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have joined the coalition's Fair Food Program — which calls for them to pay a penny a pound more for tomatoes so that farm workers can get higher wages.

The coalition and media were told by Sarasota police and Publix officials they could not bring cameras onto the property while a delegation of clergy went inside the store to buy Publix brand "fair trade" coffee.

Labels on the coffee packages state that Publix favors livable wages and working conditions for coffee harvesters, Buckley said.

The delegation presented Publix with a letter signed by more than 40 local clergy urging it to make the same pledge for tomato harvesters.

Although Sweetbay, Winn-Dixie and other chains also have not joined the Fair Food Program, the coalition targeted Publix because it is the state's largest grocer, Buckley said.

On Sept. 1, the coalition demonstrated outside the same store.

The Rev. Clay Thomas of First Presbyterian claims he did not participate in that demonstration, though he supports the cause. He said that, after the protest ended, he entered the store while wearing a coalition T-shirt to buy a sandwich.

The management had police escort him out and give him a warning that he could be arrested for trespassing if he returns within a year.

Publix contends Thomas entered the store during the protest, that the management was concerned about a possible disruption and that police were called because Thomas refused to leave.